Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that aggravates a personʼs ability to think clearly, to build interpersonal relations and manage emotions (Summerville and Atherley, 2012). More than two million Americans suffer from this illness today, which shows relatively high frequency of its occurrence. Schizophrenia can be developed at any age, still the first symptoms of the illness appear between the ages of 16 and 25 in three quarters of the affected. The development of the illness in adults after age 40 and children is very uncommon (NAMI, 2008). The statistics shows that 25 percent of persons diagnosed with this illness experience only one psychotic episode in their life (Torrey, 2001). 70 percent of the affected by schizophrenia are able to live beyond its limitations and experience a quality of life partially, whereas 10 percent end their own lives through suicide (Torrey, 2001). Homelessness is the destiny of another 10 percent living with the illness. In addition, less than 5 percent of the people diagnosed with schizophrenia show the greater level of violence than the average person (Torrey, 2001).
Schizophrenia is a very challenging illness. Hallucinations and delusions, lack of content and brief speech, emotional flatness and lack of expressiveness, lack of understanding the illness, which commonly accompany it, aggravate a personʼs ability to perform complex memory tasks, to organize own thinking or to operate with several ideas simultaneously (NAMI, 2008). Since the changes in brain chemistry and structure are mainly responsible for schizophrenia, the behavior of even treated people can be unusual and unsettling (Torrey, 2001). Such inappropriate, unpredictable and disorganized behavior of the people living with schizophrenia creates a plethora of problems for them, their families and community. The absence of affective treatment and care results in social exclusion of these people that are shunned as the “targets of social prejudice” (NAMI, 2008, p. 1).
Another spectrum of challenges, associated with schizophrenia, is connected with the future of the ill family members. According to the statistics, 70 percent of persons suffering from schizophrenia live with their parents. The parents as the caregivers are exposed to the worries about the further care they would not be able to provide. It causes also physical health problems, distress, burden, stress, diminished quality of life, the lower life satisfaction, anxiety and depressions (Saunders, 2003). Moreover, family caregivers of an individual with schizophrenia report the risk for their own mental health, their financial strain, work, etc. (Summerville and Atherley, 2012). Conflicts with the person they care for, discrepancies in the care received from the healthcare system and frustration, connected with “the systems for mental healthcare, justice, law and government” (Summerville and Atherley, 2012) are the additional challenges for the family caregivers, which also should be addressed with the help of educational programs, nurse led groups or support groups.
Correct diagnosis and early treatment is crucial for the recovery of the people affected by schizophrenia (Grandon, et al, 2008). However, the illness is often an enormous stressor for the families that are not able to provide …